Zeal for the Lord

I love to hear my best friend Shannon talk about the Cincinnati Bengals. And when I use the word talk, I use it very loosely for terms like harass or heckle might be more appropriate. I suspect that one of the first things she ever learned to say was "Who Dey". She knows every player; she watches every game; she sports jerseys and t-shirts on game days; and she has been known to start the "Who Dey" chant in a crowd of Browns' fans. The girl loves her Bengals and she's not afraid to show it.

I know practically nothing about the Bengals, but watching Shannon's passionate support of this football team has made me, at times, wish that I too could rattle off statistics on the players or rock a Bengals jersey without feeling like I just jumped on the band wagon. And I think this example shows a very valuable point--that passion peaks interest. When we see passion in people, our immediate reaction is fascination in the thing they are passionate about. When someone is so expressive in the way they speak about something, this excitement we see in them sparks our interest and we want to know more.

But the reality is that many of us as Christians often lack passion in our relationship with Christ. We may go to Church on Sunday, provide service in some way, or even take time to pray, but the truth of the matter is that the majority of us are pretty content to allow our faith to be small. We are passionate about Starbucks coffee or Tom's shoes or the movie 'Inception', but when it comes to our faith, we lack enthusiasm and lack the confidence to talk about it. We settle to say "I love God" in our minds, but don't let that love permeate our very existence so that all our actions are manifestations of our passionate love for him. The smallness of our worship and the lack of passion in our discipleship shows the outside world that our God is not someone worth following. If passion peaks interest, we often don't show the world that our God is of interest to them.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, says "Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord". And this could be our prayer this week--to be people who are zealous in faith and fervent in spirit as we serve the Lord. Maybe for us that means that we will actually sing and participate in Mass. Maybe it means that we will pray before a meal, even if we are out to dinner. Maybe it means that we will unashamedly make the sign of the cross before starting a run or sports practice. Or maybe it means being really crazy and talking to someone openly and excitedly about your faith. But the question we can all ask is "What does my faith tell the outside world about God and how can I live it out so they will be interested in him?" Blessing friends, as we passionately pursue the Lord.